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Zena Moon Autumn Gratitude Candles

Faith Candle...

Autumn Candle...





"Gratitude turns problems into blessings, and the unexpected into gifts." ---Melody Beattie

How do you say "thank you"? In this season of gratitiude, it is rewarding to share with children all that we are thankful for.

I have a new evening ritual, which my children love, we sit at the table together, and light a candle before dinner. Acutally, to be fair we light two candles, one for each child to blow out when dinner is finished. They love it, and the ritual is so sweet, they remember to ask for it and even get the candles ready. We are able to talk and sit for a moment before the business of dinner begins.

I have just recieved a shipment of Zena Moon candles, gorgeous hand poured candles from the west coast. Each candle has a purpose with a beautiful quote on it, and is scented with essential oils and then embedded with semi-precious gem stones. These are sweet gratitude gift for anyone in your life, or a special way to create intention in your life.

Price runs from $8-20 depending on size. Call now for a full selection availability and to order the perfect gratitude candle for you. 719-369-5622 or email hipcoach@comcast.net

Green Goddess Party - You are invited

Green Women Mercantile is out and about as the holiday season arrives. With the arrival of several new products, including Handmade Earrings, and Wonder of The Mother Cards, and the beginning of our Green Goddess Parties, we will be available at several locations in the month of November. So, pack up the kids, and head out to choose beautiful gifts to give this season, and know that you can feel good about your purchases supporting local women, as well as families world wide with fair trade items.

I look forward to seeing you, wearing babies or not, in the next weeks.

Summer Babies!

Well, what have the green women been doing all summer? I know that the blazing hot days of summer have taken me away from my computer and out to the pool in an effort to stay cool... and as the days go by, Scarlett has become more and more of a 22month old mother... carrying her babies and nursing them and tucking them into bed. In an effort to provide Scarlett with the basic equipment each mother should have, I came across the Maya Wrap Baby Doll Sling, which she immediately fell in love with (and if you notice, her sling matches the one I carry her in daily). We at GWM will carry them at $16.95 if your little ones would love to wear their baby dolls... what a great way of teaching our children that babies should be held and loved and cared for... Carry your Baby, and Change the World! (Images Left: Scarlett with baby "matthew" & Right: Sierra and Scarlett and Gina and AJ... nursing and slinging together 2007) -Sierra

New Father Uses Baby Sling In First Hours of Birth

Grandmother Mardee Ropella who is an amazing Retreat Coach from Washington celebrated the birth of her first grandchild by reporting this:

Kara Marie arrived at 7:41AM on 5/30. She is 7#10oz and 20 1/4 inches.

We've used the sling already. Kara loves it. Daddy loves to use it too. I took a pic of him with it on. He loves his little girl and wants her close to him all the time.

Bluegrass On The River - Meet Us There!

Green Women Mercantile will be in Pueblo at the Greenway and Nature Center June 2 and 3 for their Annual Bluegrass Festival Stop by to learn more about healthy parenting products including our hot selling baskets from Africa.

Do you have a woman in your life with a baby? If so, then consider gifting her a Maya Wrap - a handmade sling for easy baby holding. Come and try one on yourself at our booth!

Mother's Day with Green Values

When the first baby laughed for the first time,

the laugh broke into a thousand pieces

and they all went skipping about,

and that was the beginning of fairies.

~ Sir James Matthew Barrie (1860-1937) from Peter Pan

Join Us At The Herb Fest

We love participating in fun events around the region. Our tables at the Pueblo and Colorado Springs Earth Day Celebrations were such nice ways to spend a day... and we love seeing you and your babies.

Please come and join us for this up coming event.

-Sierra

More on Sling Happiness

Photo: Inside the glow of the parent-baby sling bubble

I finally figured out how to write something on our own blog! My kids and I got together with Sierra and her kids today to take some pictures for our website (which will be up soon!) and I was reminded of how much I like to put my kids in slings, as big as they are getting. I haven't used one for a while because I am letting chronic back problems heal, at least for a while, and also Jacob, at almost 21 mos. is old enough to walk around by himself. But putting my "babies" in the Bundle Bug gives me such a feeling of closeness with them...and them with me! How can I tell? Well, because of how we nuzzle each other and by their immediate sense of comfort in the world.

Eliana, who weighs about 32 lbs. still fits nicely into my sling facing me, her now-long legs dangling by my side and her arms around my neck. As long as she leans into me and I have the fabric pulled way up on her back (to support me well enough), I am quite comfortable and have even carried her through airports while I pushed Jacob in a stroller. Jacob can still face out into the world or into his most comforting, number-one person--mommy--and even fall asleep there while I walk on for miles and hours doing what I need to do. If he started out quiet and reserved in a new environment, he starts to coo and babble when I put him in the sling, enjoying his new viewpoint from up high. Even after an absence from the sling of many months, he finds himself quite at home. I also loved that when Jacob was tiny, I folded his legs up just like the Bundle Bug is designed to do, and though he was scrunched up into a ball, he loved it because that's how babies find themselves in the uterus--it's actually comfortable for them.

So, I found an old picture of Eliana in the sling with me--she's about 9-10 mos. in the picture and now she's 3 1/2! Slings carry babies from newborn baby seed pods to grown-up-acting toddler size. The first sling I ever had was a Maya Wrap which was given to me for free by someone who was just passing it along. One of our goals is to get as many donated slings as we can, from as many companies or parents-passing-them-along as possible and offer them for free, like mine was given to me...spread the word, as we want everyone who wants one to have one and we'll offer a sling class with the giveaway, too. I was so happy that someone gave me the opportunity for such a delightful experience with my children--one that I hadn't even heard of. We want to provide that for all of you, too.

Green Women Mercantile Celebrate Women's Bodies

"The beauty of my body is not measured by the size of the clothes it can fit into, but by the stories that it tells. I have a belly and hips that say, 'We grew a child in here, " and breasts that say,
'We nourished life.' My hands, with bitten nails and a writer's callus, say, 'We create amazing things.'"

-Sarah, from I Am Beautiful: A Celebration of Women in "Their Own Words"

Grandmothers Holding Babies

This is beautiful baby Izzy with her Grandmother Maggie from Ireland, wearing a Bundle Bug (a very beautiful one too, I might add!)

I once heard that the "human race evolved when women learned how to put their babies in slings"... I love that idea... I know my mothering evolved when I got my first sling!

So... Sling away women, mothers and grandmothers. And please, if you love your sling and love how your babies look in the sling, or snuggly or backpack or whatever else you put your babe in... send me a picture and a statement! Let's help women all over the place find comfortable and happy ways to carry their babies!

Thanks so much Maggie and Izzy!
-Sierra

Beautiful Cycles... Read What I am Reading...

I am constantly watching people discover their cycles. It always amazes me to see women realize how many choices they have... and to find the pleasure of honoring their cycles. My sweet sister in law called from college to help her friends order menstrual products, and I felt a sense of comfort knowing that these young women were somewhere talking about making changes in the way they choose to honor their cycle blood each month. To these women, and all the ones to come, I thank you as our mother earth thanks you and as your body thanks you for choosing to make a change... whether it is using re-useable pads at home or a commitment to no longer buying any disposables, whatever you are ready and able to do, it is amazing and powerful!

Terry Tempest Williams says...

"Today, I feel stronger, learning to live with the natural cycles of a day and to not expect so much from myself. As women, we hold the moon in out bellies. It is too much to ask to operate on a full-moon energy three hundred and sixty-five days a year. I am in a crescent phase. And the energy we expend emotionally belongs to the hidden side of the moon."

I am in full moon tonight... where are you? Create a new word for where you are in your cycle...

-Sierra
I have a few sites i think are beautiful and amazing to look at... this one shocked me and surprised me: www.spiralingmoon.livejournal.com www.milkandcookies.com

Green Women Mercantile Goods!

Because our website is being created by wonderful women, with children and things do take time I thought I might post a list of our current products and prices, so that people can see our inventory easily!

We have so many great products, and are adding new ones all the time.

• Sorella Luna Sea Sponge Tampons $12.00
• Petunia Pads (reusable menstrual pads) $8-$10 depending on size and current special package deal of one light, two regular pads and one overnight for $32.00
• The Keeper (reusable menstrual cup) $35.00
• Unbleached Indian Prefold Cloth Diapers (so soft!) $26.00/dozen
• Baby Booties in Organic Cotton and Wool Blends $16-$24 depending on type and size
• Maya Wrap Baby Sling $50.00
• Bundle Bug Baby Sling $50.00
• Pineflower Soap Co. handmade soaps and lotions $1.50-$7
• The Van Manen's Children's Music $15.00
• African Market Baskets $16-$38

And we're waiting for... our own line of cloth diaper covers, Zena Candles and handmade jewelry
See something you are interested in? Want to host a party and get discounted goods? Having a baby, want to register? Call us, or email us and we will get our superb goods off to you...

Pueblo 719-369-5622
Manitou Springs 719-685-5979
email: companysr@yahoo.com

Remember to check back with us, our products are ever changing and more pictures are coming! Are you looking for something that you can't find or want to find in a greener way? Let us see if in our network of businesses we can locate it for you.

-Sierra

Women and babies... beautiful bonding!

Sierra and Scarlett in Isla Mujeras, Mexico - April 2006


Crystal and Shannon in Beulah, Colorado in a Bundle Bug... nursing in a sling, the happiest baby ever... Summer 2006

What do I love about slings and baby wearing? I will let the pictures do the talking.

We want to see pictures of your babies in slings!!! Please post them or email them and let us post them!!!

-Sierra

Green Goddess Open House - You are Invited

We are honored to participate in a fundraiser for the Mountain Park Environmental Center on Friday February 2ND, 2007 starting at 4:30pm and going until... well, until people decide to go home! at 249 W. Linden (Pueblo West, CO). Hosted by MPEC Board members: Ann Warren and Sarah Brustele. For more info call 719-485-4444.

The proceeds of our sale will go to benefit "Getting Kids into Nature". An anonymous donor will match all donations to the "MPEC at Horseshoe Lodge" project until Valentine's Day 2007. By supporting us at this benefit, you will be supporting hundreds of children's connection with nature in the years to come... find out more about the MPEC's Horseshoe Lodge campaign at www.hikeandlearn.org.

Directions: Hwy. 50 to Pueblo West, turn left onto Purcell, right onto Linden. Go 1.5 miles (just past Greenway Ave) - 249 W. Linden.

What will we have for you at this event? Food, drink, and your opportunity to buy gifts for your loved ones while you support a great cause.

I hope to see you there...
Sierra

This picture is from "the Birds and the Bees" summer program for teenage girls at the MPEC 2007, Scarlett and Sierra were proud to be part of the group!

Basket Pictures...

The Green Women are connected to Ghana...

Hooray, our shipment of baskets have arrived from the African Basket Project... these beautiful baskets for some reason touch me so deeply. Perhaps it is the thought that they are handmade by women sitting with other women, nursing their babies, singing songs, tending their children as they make them... I carry my children's diapers and food in them, I carry my journal and wallet around, and each time I pack my basket for our outing, I smile and feel that connection...

This company is amazing. You can see their website at www.basketafrica.com. These baskets are bought on fair trade and the workers are paid fair and living wages. Also, the company puts money back into the communites... health care and education... things all people should have...

As I look at this stack of baskets sitting in my home, I imagine the women who made them and imagine the women who will use them, and hope that all women find connections to each other, whether through baskets or conversation... women supporting and listening to each other.


-Sierra